Spotify & Google Music – should you subscribe?

Imagine your favourite tracks, plus millions of other songs you’ve not yet heard (but always wanted to), all available with a few taps of a button. That in a nutshell is the exciting promise offered by music streaming, and what makes services such as Spotify and Google Play Music so interesting.

From classic Rolling Stones singles to Schubert’s Symphony No.5, they allow you to play almost any track you can think of in seconds, using a computer, tablet or smartphone. So, what’s the catch? We asked one enthusiast and one skeptic to argue for and against music streaming – read on for the heated debate.

‘All of my music I want for £10 per month. That’s a bargain’

I’ve been riding the Spotify bandwagon since it first started rolling in 2008. All the music you can listen to for £10 a month? In my eyes, that’s an absolute bargain.

Not only has a music streaming subscription saved me from purchasing CDs I’ll listen to only once, it’s also helped me discover more new music than ever before. Every time I open Spotify I’m greeted with a list of what my friends are listening to and several more songs I might like. More often than not, these are spot on.

As a music fan, I still buy my favourite albums on vinyl for when I want to relax with a really great record. But most of the time, music streaming is a much more convenient alternative.Rob Leedham – senior researcher

‘I just won’t get my money’s worth’

There’s a simple reason why I don’t subscribe to Spotify: I’m not going to get my money’s worth. When I buy an album, I like to dedicate some real time to it and eke out all the hidden flourishes. Chasing the next big thing doesn’t interest me.

Besides, most of the time I devote to listening to music is with albums I already own. There’s little point in me paying out again for the chance to listen to classics such as The Village Green Preservation Society.

I like the idea of storing all my MP3s in the cloud with Google Play Music – it’s free and will save me a lot of stress if my laptop suddenly breaks. As for paying a premium to stream music I don’t already own, I just can’t see the attraction.Rory Boland – deputy editor

Music streaming – your thoughts?

Do you swear by Spotify or give Google Music your hard-earned money instead? Maybe YouTube will do just fine for spinning a few classic songs? Whatever your opinion on music streaming, we want to hear about it in the comments section below.

3 replies

All of my music I want for £0 per month. That’s a bargain
I download everything for free, I figure that I paid through the nose for albums during the first thirty years of my life, so now I’m just getting even!

If I want whole albums I buy them from Amazon on put them on my kindle mp3, or just use you tube for playlists of my favourite songs which works brilliantly on my Samsung s4 why pay anymore money out I have got everything I need.

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